Some idea of the extravagant price of books in these ages ,of ignorance, may be. formed from' the following well authenticated facts : The Homilies of Bede, and St Austin's Psalter, were purchased, in the year 1174, by Walter, prior of St Swithins, at Win chester, from ,the monks of Dorchester, in.Oxford-• shire, for twelve measures of barley, and a splendid pall, on which was. embroidered, in save'', the histo ry of St Birinus converting a Saxon.king.. About the year 1400, a copy, of John of Meun's Boman de la Rose, was sold before the palace gate at Paris for ' 40 crowns, or 433 : 6 : 6 sterling. For a copy of the Homilies of Haimon, bishop of Halberstadt, the of Anjou gave 200 sheep, five quarters of wheat, and the same quantity of rye and millet. When Louis XI. of France borrowed the works of 'Rhases, the Arabian physician, from the medical fa culty at Paris, (so late as the year 11710 he not only deposited by way of pledge a considerable quan tity of plate, but was obliged to find a nobleman to join with him as surety in a deed, binding himself, under a great forfeiture, to restore it.
The manufacture of paper from linen, afforded such facilities for the multiplication of manuscripts, as produced a very great reduction in their price; and, of •course, contributed essentially to the diffu sion of knowledge. Learning had already begun to revive, and to be cultivated with considerable ardour, when the invention of printing, about the middle of the fifteenth century, gave a new stimulus to the human mind, and formed the most important mra to the history of literature civilization. The power lof increasing indefinitely the number of books, now placed them within the reach of persons of the most moderate fortunes ; the avenues of science were thus thrown open to any one who had the curiosity to enter them ; and its mysteries became accessible to all who had the perseverance to proceed. For some time 'after this happy invention, it was allowed to produce its natural effects ; and the reading part of the community, delighted with the advantage of per using their favourite authors at an easy rate, never' thought of undervaluing a book on account of the fa cility of procuring it, as if learning could become less precious by being generally diffused. By degrees, however, the -fastidiousness induced by plenty began to manifest itself, even in the appreciation of worki of literature ; the natural ambition of possessing what few could obtain, inspired the wealthy and the cu rious with a kind of contempt for books, however ex.: cellent in themselves, which were 'rendered common by their cheapness, and gave to others, which neglect or other causes had now rendered scarce, an adventi tious value, often in inverse proportion to their intrin sic worth. Were the passion for rare books confined to those alone whose merit makes them desirable, it would be equally useful and respectable. But when
it delights in raking up from just oblivion, at any trouble or expense, works which no man of taste or judgment would wish to open, it surely deserves no gentler appellation than drivelling and folly. That the majority of rare books are rare, only because they are destitute of merit, is obvious from this considera tion, that new impressions of them would certainly have been printed, if there had been any hopes of their being sold ; yet there are others, not so despi cable, which particular circumstances have prevented from finding general circulation, and which, ,there fore, have become the objects of a very allowable, and even laudable curiosity. It may not be improper here to mention some of the causes of the scarcity of particular books ; in enumerating which, we shall be led to relate some very curious facts in the history c+f modern literature.
Bibliographers have classed rare books under two general heads, those whose scarcity is absolute, and those of which the scarcity is only relative. Under the first head are comprehended, 1. Books of which only a very small impression was originally printed, and of which the impression, I from particular circumstances, could not be renewed. One of the Earls of Bute .published a botanical work in eight volumes, with coloured plates, the impression of which he is said to have limited to twelve copies. Some additional copies, however; seem to have been surreptitiously printed ; for one with uncoloured plates was lately offered to sale ; fos which, though imperfect, forty guineas were demand ed. The twelve original copies were distributed as presents. In the year 1S07, a work entitled Hews in Orkney, by the Marchioness of Stafford, was print ed for private distribution only. The large paper copies of the Grenville Homer were likewise intended solely as presents ; and when they come accidentally to sale, are valued at one hundred guineas. The An.: tichita a splendid work in nine folio vo lumes, was printed at the expense of the King of Naples, and presented to illustrious individuals, or to distinguished literary bodies ; and a translation of Sallust by Don Gabriel, one of the princes of Spain, and, we think, of the same family, was printed in a beautiful Italian character, and distributed in a si milar manner. But none of these works can be com pared with the Museum TVorsleyanum, which consisti of two large folio volumes full of engravings. It wa4 printed in 1794, and the prime cost of each copy was estimated at £300 sterling. It was wholly disposed of in presents by its munificent author, Sir Richard Worsley. A small work entitled Mitsccum Typogra. phium, was published by Debure, who is said to have limited the impression to twelve copies ; and Four nier, a French bibliographer, printed only twenty-five copies of his Essai Portatif de Bibliographic.